Winnacunnet baseball team opens with 9-1 win

HAMPTON — Not often does a routine ground ball in the second inning help determine the outcome of a baseball game.

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By Jay Pinsonnault

seacoastonline.com

By Jay Pinsonnault

Posted Apr. 17, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Jay Pinsonnault

Posted Apr. 17, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

HAMPTON — Not often does a routine ground ball in the second inning help determine the outcome of a baseball game.

However, that is exactly what happened on Wednesday as the Winnacunnet High School baseball team opened its season against Nashua South in a Division I game.

The Warriors had a runner on first base with one out when Jordan Keene stepped to the plate against Nashua South sophomore right-hander Pat McDonnell.

McDonnell induced what appeared to be an inning-ending double-play to second base. However, Josh Surrette's underhand flip to shortstop Mike Habibi was wide of the bag and everybody was safe as the inning kept going.

The next four batters reached, and when the inning was over, the Warriors had plated five unearned runs. They increased their lead to 6-0 and went on to score three runs in the sixth inning during a 9-1 victory. The game was played on the Winnacunnet junior varsity field, as the varsity field was deemed unplayable.

"It was a nice win, and we'll take it on opening day," Winnacunnet coach Jared Liebenow said. "It's fortunate those plays happened positively for us today, and not negatively like it seemed all plays were last year. It was very big getting the five runs there in the second."

Winnacunnet senior southpaw Connor MacHardy allowed just one hit, a seeing-eye single in the fifth, and an unearned run over five innings. He struck out six and walked four.

"(MacHardy) had a nice game for us," Liebenow said. "He worked around some walks, gave us five strong innings, and the defense made the plays behind him."

With the victory, MacHardy matched his win total of last season.

"The first game you always have some nerves, but we got six quick runs and I was able to relax and throw strikes," MacHardy said.

After Winnacunnet's Keene reached on the error in the second, Mike Nastasia reached on another error by Surrette; consecutive walks to leadoff hitter Collin Witt and T.J. Welch gave Winnacunnet a 3-0 lead. MacHardy then helped his own cause by stroking a two-run single up the middle, increasing Winnacunnet's lead to 5-0. The final run of the inning came when Aaron Gaskell was hit by a pitch, bringing home MacHardy.

"Every play you should go 100 percent just in case something like that happens," said Winnacunnet senior catcher Cam Hauze. "One play could change a ballgame, and that is what happened today. That (first error) changed the game."

South's Josh Holbrook relieved McDonnell after Gaskell got hit and allowed just one hit over the next 4 1/3 innings until tiring in the sixth.

Witt laced a one-out single to left in the sixth and stole second before scoring on Welch's single to right field and giving Winnacunnet a 7-1 lead. The final two Winnacunnet runs came on Hauze's RBI groundout to third and Liam O'Sullivan's single to left. Hauze had two RBIs on the day, as his groundout to second scored Welch in the first inning.

"It's great to come out and get a win under these conditions," Hauze said. "It wasn't fun, but you have to grind through, and we did that today and got the win."

Junior Aaron Gareau pitched the final two scoreless innings for the Warriors, allowing one hit and one walk.

Winnacunnet is off until Monday, when it hosts Nashua North. The game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.